IBM announced that its new portal software with Web 2.0 support will ship this quarter. Called IBM WebSphere Portal 6.1, it is designed to securely combine information from both the enterprise and the Web.

A portal is a technology for providing external and internal Web sites which can deliver information, applications, and processes to provide a personalized experience to individuals. Web 2.0 technologies are increasingly being used for business by empowering people with content, social connections and other tools to solve problems.

IBM has gathered feedback from 4,000 beta testers of its new portal software. As a result, the company has made several improvements, making it a choice to help teams collaborate, innovate and execute. The beta version was tested by companies in a variety of industries worldwide including financial services, healthcare, government, telecommunications, security and IT, including IBM systems integrator Ascendant Technology.

"We've been testing WebSphere Portal version 6.1 and fully expect it to exceed the expectations of our customers," said Jim Deters, President, Ascendant Technology, a company that sells service oriented architecture (SOA), Portal and Business Process Management software and services. "The significant Web 2.0 capabilities and enhanced deployment and administrative features of this new release will address the top requirements our customers have been requesting."

"This is a first-of-its-kind Web 2.0 portal because it helps users interact with the information and people they need around the clock, from the Web and from within an organization," said Larry Bowden, vice president, Portals and Web Interactive Services, IBM. "A portal is important because it's the first step in implementing any SOA strategy," he added.

SOA is a business strategy that helps a company reuse existing technology to more closely align it with business goals resulting in greater efficiencies, cost savings, agility and productivity. According to a recent report from Wintergreen Research, IBM holds 64 percent marketshare in SOA, up 11 percent year to year.

The expanded Web 2.0 features of IBM WebSphere Portal 6.1 software will help people be more productive and find key information faster. Its new live text tagging feature allows a user to click on text, in context of the business process being used, and see supporting information right there related to the job at hand.

For example, a sales representative clicks on the address of his customer and a map with directions appears; or he clicks on the name of the customer and an electronic business card pops up.

IBM's new software also has the ability to instantly update any aspect of a web page without the need to do an entire page refresh, for example, when a person makes an update while placing an on-line order. The elimination of this wait time makes the user's experience more satisfying.

The portal software will also enable new classes of applications to be created in a much more intuitive and responsive fashion, as well as offer new portlet functionality and increased portal security. It will feature an assembly of highly interactive composite applications with dynamic, contextual access to data and services both inside and outside a company.

Other new features include out-of-the-box templates and site creation tools, more installation options, and new portal "Site Wizard" for self-help. The new portal supports IBM AIX, HP-UX, IBM I5/OS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Sun Solaris and Microsoft Windows Server.